Search

This past weekend I went to Vegas with two of my very good girlfriends to celebrate some birthdays (Kirra and Maura).

There was a lot of very good food, lots of drinks, some awesome shows and a little gambling. And no freaking sleep. I swear to you, they pump oxygen into the hotels there to keep people up and at it. Between that, the lights and the noise, I pretty much operated on the tiniest bit of sleep the whole time, but it was Vegas 🙂

We got there on Wednesday evening and after checking into our gorgeous hotel, Aria, we got ready for the night! We went to a restaurant in Aria called Julian Serrano which featured small plates with a Spanish influence. We decided to all get salads and then share some other small plates. I got a pretty standard salad that was very good. Maura ordered this interesting number though, it was so pretty she was almost afraid to dig in.

That was basically the crouton wrapped around the salad.

Kirra and I shared sea bass with a donostiarra sauce. I’ve never had that sauce before and I can’t even find out exactly what it is online, but it was phenomenal. We also ordered wild mushroom risotto that was to die for and short ribs.

We then headed next door for some drinks at the Cosmopolitan. I decided to stick with wine, so nothing fancy there, but one of the girls we met up with got a cosmo that she said was one of the best she’s had.

Around 2 we figured we should try to get some sleep… fail. You’ll see a pattern soon.

I’m pretty sure we were all up by 8 am even though I laid there trying to will myself back to sleep. We were meeting 3 other girls there along with some of Kirra’s family. While Kirra went to have breakfast with her family and gamble a bit, three of us headed down for an early lunch. Even simple Vegas food I found to be excellent. I got a panini for lunch with chicken, caramllized onions, pesto, some other stuff I can’t remember and it was awesome.

We then spent the day sitting poolside while I avoided getting burned while sitting on the sun. Actually, it wasn’t too hot the days I was there. Don’t get me wrong, the pool felt great, but I once lived in Florida, so I was okay.

After getting my fill of the sun, I went in to try to learn blackjack a little better. I lost $80 in like 10 minutes. So very sad. After that it was time to go and get ready for our big night out. Chippendale night!

The show was at the Rio so we decided to eat there. We weren’t sure where we’d end up going to eat but decided that an Italian place named Martorano’s right next to the theater would be good. It was an interesting experience to say the least. Part club, part restaurant. The music was so loud, you couldn’t really hear the people across the table. They also had a movie playing, Casino, and occasionally they would play the sound from a particular scene. It was just weird. The food was really good, but that’s just not my style of dining, it was very distracting. This was the chicken dish that I got, it had a lot of cheese on it as you can see!

However, once that was over, we got to see some really good looking guys dance and take their clothes off. Now I’ll be the first to tell you that male strippers are usually super creepy. These guys were not. Maybe it’s because Ian Ziering of 90210 fame was in the show. Maybe it’s because they were all superbly built and hot. Maybe it’s because there were over 200 screaming women in the room having a good time. Either way, it was seriously a blast. And we got to talk to Ian after the show and get a picture with him. And I got my picture with these two 🙂

We then went back to our hotel and had some drinks at a lounge. It was a nice relaxing end to a rather exciting evening. Maura and I decided we were starving around 2 and went to the 24 hour cafe for some pizza, also very good, especially given the time of day it was. Then we went to attempt to sleep. Fail again.

Around 10 on Saturday we just headed straight to the pool to get a good spot. We just ate pool side and I got an oriental salad that was very refreshing and light, which is what I really wanted. I also got a ridiculously large and fruity drink. It was part strawberry daiquiri part pina colada. It was sweet and silly and awesome.

I was super excited for dinner and the show we were seeing that night. We went to Jean Georges Steakhouse. It was fantastic. I started by sharing a tomato and mozzarella salad that was simple and fantastic at the same time.

I ordered the 8 oz fillet and had it cooked medium rare. Jen is cringing right now. It was like cutting through butter. I also ordered a side of mashed potatoes with black truffles that I couldn’t finish and felt super sad about. One of the other people at dinner ordered macaroni and cheese with truffles that was also phenomenal.

After that we went to see a relatively new Cirque du Soleil show, Zarkana. I pretty much sat through the whole show with my mouth hanging open and my eyes super wide on the edge of my seat. It was fantastic and we had awesome seats.

We went and had a few drinks and gambled a bit then I decided to play a little electronic roulette. I turned $20 into $78 and then turned that back into $25. It’s a talent. We were all so exhausted that we tried to get to sleep at a decent time and I did manage to sleep from about 2 until 8.

Alas, Sunday was our last day in Vegas and we headed to the airport in a limo courtesy of one of the girls we were there with.

I have to thank Kirra for planning such a great vacation. I met some awesome people (Amy, Danielle and Missy), saw two great shows, ate some really amazing food and just in general had a great relaxing time away. This is definitely a trip I’d like to make again.